When other drivers, police do see you yakking on your cell phone, they become immediately enraged by your obvious disregard for traffic safety, but they’ll be absolutely livid if they catch you texting while driving and it can lead to serious court charges too. It was all predictable before hand now as well

Texting While Driving Banned for Federal Workers New York Times – Federal employees will no longer be allowed to send text messages while driving government vehicles or when driving their own cars and using cellphones paid for by the government, according to an executive order signed Wednesday night ..

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Gov’t seeks ban on texting truckers, bus driversThe Associated Pressfamilies of victims of accidents caused by distracted driving, who urged the government to take a strong stance against cell phone use in vehicles, whether it includes a hands free device or not. They said technologies that prevent the mobile device from receiving e-mails or phone calls while the vehicle is in motion could help address the problem. “Everyone our age thinks we’re invincible,” said Nicole Meredith, 18, of Louisville, Ky., who totaled her car because she was texting while driving.

EDMONTON — When Tammy Henkel hits the road in Edmonton, she turns off her cellphone and stores it in the trunk until she arrives at her destination. That wasn’t always the case for the interior designer, but became a new, urgent, self-imposed rule in 2007 after her 70-year-old mother was hit and killed by an Edmonton Transit driver while she was crossing on a green walk light near the Edmonton Journal at 101st Street and Macdonald Drive. A court witness said the bus driver had been talking on her cellphone minutes before she made a right-hand turn directly into Norah Tomlin Henkel. The driver was fined $2,000, had her driver’s licence suspended for three months and was found guilty of careless driving and failing to yield to a pedestrian.

Together, Liberal British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec speak for three-quarters of Canadians.

Deborah Matis-Engle, 49, of Shingletown, was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for gross vehicular manslaughter for ramming into the back of a car in 2007 while she was texting on a cell phone. The collision lead to the death of Petra Monika WinnNathan Morgan/Record Searchlight

Washington Post –Computerworld – driving while distracted from using a cell phone or texting is “personally irresponsible and socially unacceptable behavior, but in the end we won’t make the problem go away by just passing laws … We cannot legislate behavior to get results to improve road safety.” All Laws also have to be enforced…

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Los Angeles Times – NewsHourAbout a third of texting teens in the U.S. admit to texting behind the wheel, even though some said they thought it could hinder their ability to drive, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. The study by Washington, D.C.-based Pew polled 800 youth and found 82 per cent of those aged 16 to 17 have a cellphone and 76 per cent text. The poll suggests that overall, 34 per cent of teen texters aged 16 to 17 have texted while driving. The survey has an accuracy of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/11/16/consumer-teen-texting-pew.html

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Thankfully there’s a simple answer to this problem for anyone with an Android phone, like the T-Mobile MyTouch, a program called Textecution.

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Textecution is a program that runs on Android phones and uses the onboard GPS to know how fast the phone is moving. If it detects the phone traveling at speeds that indicate it is in a car, Textecution disables the texting functions of the phone.
But mooooom, your kid is sure to complain when you install this little application on their phone, “I need to be able to text when I am riding the bus to my soccer game! This isn’t fair!” That’s where Textecution moves from handy way to prevent teen texting to ingenious.

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If your teen is moving too fast, but not the driver, they can send a request for access which will alert you and let you enable their text messaging functions with a simple text reply.

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With more states putting texting while driving laws on the books, having a text addicted teen driver could get costly very quickly. Fines commonly start close to $100 and several states are trying to get laws passed that would make fines hundreds of dollars for a single offense.

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On top of fines, a single accident can easily cost a few hundred for a fender bender to several thousand for a crash, not to mention the increased insurance cost for years to come.

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Even though there’s nothing in place to stop your kid from removing Textecution from their phone, other than you knowing later, it is a useful tool for preventing texting while driving and keeping your kid safe and focused when they are behind the wheel.

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If you don’t have an Android phone to use Textecution with perhaps you should just sit your kid down to watch this, very graphic, PSA from the UK that explains the dangers of texting while driving in an unforgettable manner.

Most accidents are caused by drunk driving and the doctor does not mention this still?? what was that? he was paid by the liquor industry not to? or was PAID BY MONEY MAKING REVENUE COPS TO SAY SPEED ALONE MAINLY KILLS.. HOW ABSURD.. THIS Canadian doctor.. and not a Canadian Traffic engineer uses now US statistics ONLY to say speed alone kills? and he what HE THUS HAD considered also the number of drunk, impaired, road rage drivers, that seem to increase very year as a fact for most of the deaths NO MATTER WHAT THE SPEED? or what this did not bother him.. only the number of people who speed?

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SPEED IS A MAIN FACTOR IN 5 TO 15 PERCENT OF THE ACCIDENTS.. AND WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE ACCIDENTS? THE 85 PERCENT.. it SEEMS THE DOCTORS IN UNITED KINGDOM CONTRADICT THIS CANADIAN DOCTOR IN THEIR TRAFFIC ACCIDENT STUDIES TOO.. SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW? Preposterous COOKED results.. NOW get real..

Support for Ont. Liberals falls to 39% 680 News – Toronto – The $25-billion provincial deficit and the eHealth spending scandal are costing the McGuinty government. An Ipsos Reid survey for Canwest news found support for the Liberals has fallen to 39 per cent of decided voters. Kinda of says it all..

Quebec – Delegates to a weekend meeting of the Quebec Liberal Party voted today to bring back highway tolls, one of a series of measures to balance the provincial budget. Delegates also approved resolutions to increase the excise tax on alcohol and to introduce a new excise tax on energy drinks, chips, soft drinks and candies. An excise tax is built into the price of products such as gasoline and alcohol. Resolutions calling for royalties paid on water for commercial uses and a minimum royalty payment by mining companies were also adopted. Saturday the delegates approved resolutions calling for higher hydro rates and the introduction of tuition fees in CÉGEPs, Quebec’s unique junior colleges, until now tuition-free.http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Liberals+vote+bring+back+highway+tolls/2039604/story.html

And when the citizens ask the politicians to do their jobs better where are they? My very useless Lieberal local Quebec MLA Clement Gignac and his representative Luciana.Evangelista@mdeie.gouv.qc.ca they had not even acknowledged or replied even to my last 2 letter to them for they seem to be so busy chasing the mighty dollar, to make up for losing 30% of the Quebecers pension funds they lost. Now they even do say they are too busy to talk me and so they do forget about me, and all of the elderly persons now too it seems.

The cost of Ontario’s bungled push toward electronic health records for every patient ballooned to more than $1 billion as successive Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments scrambled to bring the system online, says a critical new auditor general’s report into the eHealth Ontario spending scandal. The report makes four broad recommendations – including tighter spending and accountability controls.. “But I think it goes beyond that to a practice that has been commonplace in the Ontario government for decades and we’re going to stop it.” http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/article/703083

Forget the crap that the Canadian Governments, especially municipalities are serving the public, including all of their civil and public servants, in reality they are mostly self serving, and basically not at all trying to control the tax payer’s costs, as a result major rampant uncontrolled money abuses, thefts, corruptions, etc continues occur Canada wide too..

What about having a valid, real Federal economic development, job creation programs instead? for It is not surprising that the same Civil servants under the federal Liberal government had suggested next again a federal job creation program that would provide cash stimulant firstly now to their fellow buddies, the civil and public servants at the provincial , municipal levels, but what was rather surprising that the Conservative politicians had gone along with it. What is also surprising is the new federal Conservative Government like it’s Liberal predecessor does not want to regulate the taxpayer’s money abuses.. surprise , surprise…

This is not an isolated case, example in fact limited to one city or one province too.. Gomery wants new inquiry – this one into alleged mob, construction, politics ties MONTREAL – The man who led a historic inquiry into political corruption thinks another one is necessary amid allegations of criminal acitivity in the construction industry and municipal politics. Mafia experts describe such corruption as a national occurence but so far governments at the federal, provincial, and municipal level have been resistant to the idea of a probe. The retired judge said large donors wield too much influence when it comes to the awarding of municipal contracts, and that an inquiry could explore those links.. Quebec’s highways cost 11 per cent more per kilometre than in Ontario and 43 per cent more than in the rest of Canada… Curbing corruption could save several hundred million dollars every year.. adds 20 to 35 per cent to the cost of public works projects… the savings would pay for better repairs to, and snow removal from, streets and sidewalks. It would reduce pressure on raising property taxes, parking-meter fees, and bus fares. And it would make tram lines (which cost $40 million per kilometre) more affordable.

Double dipping. Police dip into victims’ cash TORONTO STAR Sep 29, 2009 04:30 AM 41 victim cash award decisions by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board in the last three months of 2008, but the incidents in question occurred from 1999 onwards. Taxpayers paid $1.5 million to officers hurt on job out of coffers meant for civilians A police officer received $10,000 as compensation because he can no longer enjoy gardening, visiting flea markets and collecting carnival glass. Another officer was awarded $1,000 after a suspect bit his arm but not hard enough to break the skin. A third broke a finger while making an arrest and received $6,500 after he claimed the fracture led to arthritis and a lower quality of life. A provincial fund that compensates civilians victimized by violent crime is routinely and increasingly paying “pain and suffering” cash awards to police officers who suffer minor injuries on the job. Workplace insurance already compensates these injured officers. A Toronto Star investigation has found that since 2005, more than 400 officers and prison guards across Ontario received a total of $1.5 million from the taxpayer-funded Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB). The board released 10 per cent of its decisions to the Star, and an analysis shows the officers who receive the cash often return to full duties, carrying a gun. A Star analysis shows the number of payouts and the average amount of each award have risen dramatically over the past four years. The amount of money given annually to officers has more than doubled since 2005, with $623,000 awarded in 2008. The number of payouts has also jumped, from 92 in 2005 to 137 last year. That’s a 49 per cent increase. “I’m absolutely appalled,” said Dr. Leslie Balmer, a Peel Region psychologist who counsels families of murder victims. “I thought this is a fund … for victims of crime, not police officers … doing their job.” Alan Young, law professor and author of a 2003 report on victim compensation systems across Canada, said: “I am somewhat shocked by the audacity that police forces feel they can tap into money that (is not) intended to assist them. It seems like this is double-dipping going on.” Toronto Police Service employees top the list with 133 cash awards since 2005. Ontario Provincial Police is second with 71. Peel Regional Police is next with 25. Ottawa Police ranked fourth with 20. The forerunner of the current law, the 1967 Law Enforcement Compensation Act, was meant to compensate civilians injured while assisting police, like the widow of Jack Blanc, a Toronto resident who was killed helping police try to stop a bank bandit. Over the years the law changed and has become widely known as a fund for civilian victims of violent crime who lose wages or suffer out-of-pocket expenses. It is now the Compensation for Victims of Crime Act. Ottawa Police Chief Vern White said ”I am surprised. I always thought it was for civilian victims.”http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/702444

“The police force and prison guards have a very strong union. They have unbelievably strong benefits. They have additional resources that ordinary citizens do not have if they are injured by violent crime,”The Police have abused the system. By the shear results, percentages alone, the police have falsely taken advantages over the citizens, victims of crime.. “Police have the same right as any other citizen to apply for compensation if they have been the victim of a crime.” but the Police have unfair advantage they have an inside track, and free legal counsel as well.. paid by the taxpayers.. all clearly an abuse of what was definitely meant for all of the citizens. The Ontario Liberal government undeniably allows the false abuse of the system again too.. https://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/the-police/

Many of Ontario’s Crown agencies have forgotten they serve the public – a systemic problem in need of quick attention to prevent further erosion of government services.. the same thing can also be said about BC, Quebec and Alberta too now.. mismanaged clearly!

MONTREAL – As Canadian provinces try to pull their budgets into the black, road tolls, higher postsecondary tuition and candy-bar taxes might be the ticket that gets them there. Quebec Premier Jean Charest has been given a green light from his Liberal party to raise government revenue on several fronts – everything from boosting electricity rates to introducing new excise taxes on booze and energy drinks. Charest said despite receiving the nod of support over the weekend, there will be no additional charges for Quebecers before the issue has been debated in public. “We’re going to look at the whole picture, not just whether or not there should be more or less user fees,” Charest said Monday in Montreal. “We need to look at how we spend money and how we need to tighten the belt of government as we go through this.” http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090928/national/provincial_fee_hikes

The Provincial Liberals in three province now British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec included are no better than the Progressive Conservatives, others in managing the government, and the related governmental abuses, wastes, rather all they can mainly do is try to increase the taxes.. and this is a really unacceptable approach..

TORONTO — Ontario’s health bureaucracy is facing yet another scandal in the wake of more revelations of spending and procurement abuses. In a special report released Wednesday morning, Auditor-General Jim McCarter outlines numerous problems at hospitals and local health integration networks (LHINs), regional funding agencies created by the Liberal government. McCarter points to the questionable hiring of pricey consultants, many of which were sole-sourced and often not required to justify the work they did. The report details a litany of questionable consulting gigs at hospitals, including one, worth $700,000, that was so vague it didn’t even list a detailed description of services needed. Another hospital completely failed to account for a $170,000 consultant contract, and was unable to produce the initial request for proposal, the names and number of firms invited to bid, the bidders’ proposals or any evaluation criteria used to reward the contract. The same firm was retained for another, $430,000 contract. Another hospital paid $8.3 million to one consulting firm for IT services over the past three fiscal years, including $180,000 the firm charges for each consultant it provides. The auditor’s report also details questionable expense claims by hospital consultants. They include one temporary executive who, despite his $275,000 annual salary, also billed the hospital nearly $150,000 for other consultants and administrative support, $14,000 for salary bonuses, foreign exchange fees and a Christmas luncheon, and numerous expensive hotels (including one, in Chicago, where he paid $500 for hotel phone charges) and lavish meals around the world. McCarter also questioned the use of lobbyists by half the 16 hospitals he audited. “We questioned the appropriateness of using government funds to pay lobbyists to help obtain more government funding.”Health minister Deb Matthews reacted swiftly to the report, announcing legislation that will ban the use of lobbyists and open hospitals to freedom of information legislation by January 1, 2012. The auditor-general also found “significant” problems with consultant contracts signed by LHINs The revelations contained in Wednesday’s report are reminiscent of those unearthed last December, when Mr. McCarter detailed spending abuses at eHealth Ontario. That agency, created by the Liberal government, was found to have given millions in sole-sourced contracts to high-priced consultants with few controls and little oversight.“I’m not afraid to say that I’m really sorry this has gone on,” said Matthews. “I don’t think this is acceptable. I don’t think we’ve been as accountable as we ought to have been. We owe it to taxpayers to ensure that every dollar they spend on taxes gets the best possible value.” http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Ontario+Auditor+General+slams+hospital+lobbying/3701093/story.html

The same bad Liberals never learned to do things right and honestly the first time even.. allow their consultant sins to go on falsely.